MARKETING IDEAS and TOOLS
Business Card Design Ideas
Brochure Design Ideas
Die Cut Business Cards
Scented Business Cards
Cheap Business Card Ideas
Unique Business Cards
Unique Brochure Ideas
Cheap Advertising Ideas
Business Card Layout
Promoting a Home Based Biz
Competitive Advantage
Email Marketing Tips
3 Ways To Spend Less
Selling With Color
Promotional Magnets
MARKETING STRATEGIES
Differentiate Yourself
Information Marketing
Building Customer Loyalty
Getting Customer Feedback
Testimonials
How to Define a Niche
Discovering Niches
Finding New Customers
Indirect Benefits
The Consumer's Perspective
Promotional Marketing
Pricing Products and Services
Viral Marketing Magic
Marketing Mix
STARTUP IDEAS and STRATEGIES
Home-Based Startup Ideas
Business Idea Brainstorming
Virtual Assistant
Internet Researcher
Event Planner
Wedding Consultant
Telecommuting Strategies
Freelance Job Strategies
WEBSITE MARKETING
Build Traffic to Your Website
Domain Name Ideas
5 Ways to Increase Traffic
Scavenger Hunts
Talking Avatars
Promote Your Web Page
Autoresponders
Internal Links
Link Exchange Tips
Viral Marketing and Email
Attract Your Target Market
Market Your Website Offline
KEYWORD TIPS
Keyword Competition
Keywords and Meta Tags
Prime Spots for Keywords
Keyword Phrases
AFFILIATE MARKETING
How To Get Started
Residual Income
Affiliate Agreements
ONLINE BASICS
Choosing Domain Names
Domain Name Extensions
Website Design Strategies
Learning HTML
Understanding HTML Colors
Are Your Colors Web-Safe?
How to Accept Payments
Bandwidth: Doing The Math
Find The Right Web Host
Publish Your Website
MARKETING YOURSELF
Resume Tips
Lifetime Commissions
and Affiliate Programs
If you are not receiving lifetime commissions from your affiliate program, you are missing out on one of the biggest advantages in being an affiliate marketer.and Affiliate Programs
In most cases, affiliates are introducing customers to the companies and the products and/or services they sell.
Assuming their products are of good quality (and you should never risk your reputation by referring your visitors or customers to a company you aren't familiar with), those customers can be theirs for decades.
As the affiliate who gave them those customers, you should be compensated in a way that reflects that long-term value.
Not all lifetime commissions are created equally. For your benefit and protection, always read the fine print in the agreements, no matter how mundane or long it might be.
Better to spend several minutes now than invest hundreds of hours with an affiliate program that was not what you assumed or expected.
Some agreements will include a provision where the affiliate program can be cancelled at any time. So, your "lifetime commissions" could end in thirty years or thirty days.
The true value and longevity of your lifetime commissions also depend upon the company itself. Will it still be around in five years, ten years, twenty years, or even a year from now? That's impossible for anyone to predict.
Your best insurance is to diversify. That can be a mix of affiliate programs, other revenue sources from your website, or both.
In choosing affiliate partnerships, lifetime commissions shouldn't be your sole criterion. An excellent company with quality products that are a good fit with your website and its content are necessary elements, as is a good affiliate program overall.
As the number of companies with affiliate programs continues to grow, a higher percentage are likely to offer either lifetime commissions or, at least, commissions for an extended period of time.
With affiliates having an ever-growing number of merchants from which to choose, it's an affiliate's market rather than the merchant's. Also, more companies will realize that it's smart business to offer lifetime commissions.
It is not in your best interest, as an affiliate, to invest a lot of time and energy with one merchant if your efforts are better compensated for elsewhere.
If "elsewhere" is their competition, you can expect to see lifetime commissions and other affiliate benefits to become more commonplace in affiliate programs.
Nancy Richardson
CreateYourMarket.com publisher
Need a writer?
Quick Tips:
Enclose a business card promoting your website with each piece of outgoing mail.
Ask customers who frequently do business with you for a testimonial.
Promote your website URL offline on everything from bumper stickers to your answering machine message.
Want to reach the highest percentage of your target market?
Advertise in specialty publications including newspaper supplements devoted to a specific topic.
Marketing is crucial, but it doesn't always have to be serious.
Some of the most effective advertising campaigns rely on humor. Don't be afraid to make your customers laugh!